Archive for Game

This is meant to just be a starter sketch of ideas. To go with super simple situation rehearsals that activate ideas using the automation of text messages from an online/central location.
This is the basic technical stage that Stephanie has started to build, online. It is also something that we’ve mentioned to start acting out through discussions we have in the group through our readings, to be determined by the group.

Simple Amplification
– a phone conversation with a public figure on a cause of choice.
– simple gestures for action for group participation
– asking players to prepare their fone, by enabling the speaker before participating

Background research possible is it to send code that would automate the enabling of a cellphone for participants?

All of these choices take into account a group decision on why we are gathering and what we are gathering to amplify.

From the last group meeting that I would like to try and use;
Shawn mentioned how we could message and assigning the responsibility of a representative of an organization. Then the activity they perform would be based on an assumption of responsibility the representative of choice would be given.

i would just add a specification on these abstract functions Rachel is
talking about.

Assuming that we have something like 20 squares, we decided that we are
going to have around 4 different types of cards, plus the interrupting
cards Rachel is talking about.

The 4 types of cards should absolve different functions such as

1. Velocity Cards:

You throw the dice, end up on a square/card that says “Congratulations
you have won a SUV, a trip around the world, etc”. For each of those
cards you may advance an X number of squares (presumably the faster the
means of transportation, the more quickly you proceed.) I like that the
idea that as you accelerate you are also physically burdened by the
amount of carbon emissions you are producing… How do we represent that?

2. Space Cards:

This kind of cards deal with the privatization of space. They say
something like

“Congratulations you have just acquired a suburban house, a tropical
island, a golf field, a piece of land…”

The effect of these cards is that they stop for one turn the player who
is behind you or all the other players, allowing you to throw the dice
more time than them. (The “pedagogical” implication of these cards is
that privatization of space prevents the community from making decisions
on how common resources may be used or non-used in a sustainable way –>
society lags behind individual needs)

–> In some cases (as in the case of the piece of land) you may be given
the option of what to do with it.

3. Consumer Goods Cards

Those kinds of cards deal with consumerism.

“Congrat you now own an Ipod, a pair of Nike, etc…”

The effect of these cards on the general dynamics of the game is still
to be clarified but we said it would be useful to think about in terms
of the ecological backpack that the production of each of those goods
imply, and in terms of the trash they produce… But it is still not
clear what happens to you as a player (or to other players) when you
bump into this sort of cards… Do the player speeds up or does she stay
where she is? And why?

4. Event Cards

Those cards are associated with various social rites of passage such as
a graduation party, a wedding or a funeral…

Perhaps these are the types of cards in which we should give the players
more freedom to make choices…

The player goes through 20 fields on a big board that is drawn on the floor with chalk. Those 20 fields are subdivided into childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. The players can move forward in the game the number of fields they get by throwing a giant dice. On every field they will read a card that tells them what’s happening in their lives at the moment. OR (we didn’t decide yet) Or maybe give the player choices, which event should happen. Each event, described on a card, symbolizes resources the player uses on that particular field. But as well goods she consumes during her life time. So depending on the event or the players choice, she will receive some object, which she will have to carry around for the rest of the game. The more carbon intensive the production was, the heavier it will be. That way there will be events that speed you up in the game, but at the same time give you much more weight to carry. For example, you make a honey moon trip (far distance flight) and move forward quickly on the board fields, but at the same time you will have to carry much more weight (maybe a huge wooden plane) for the rest of the game. You can kill other players by distributing your carbon weight on them. The one who is fastest in the goal will learn that she is the winner and dead. She might get a prize or a nice funeral or a poem.